


Inaccurate Assumptions

by samalamb



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, also a bunch of exaggerated images of them, also based off this one book i found in meridian by avad, good stuff, i rlly ship these guys, legit mentions outrageous ideas on the mysterious nora
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-10-05 11:39:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10306481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samalamb/pseuds/samalamb
Summary: Erend was reading - that, in of itself, was weird.





	

**Author's Note:**

> im so terribly in love with these idiots
> 
> also i like to think aloy doesnt have the best reading abilities bc shes always relied on the focus, i mena to read anything she uses it to scan - even open books!

Erend was reading - that, in of itself, was weird.  

Aloy, being invited over to his house for drinks and sharing tales, that, in of itself, was not weird.   

Even though it always ended up with Erend on the floor and Aloy struggling to lug his ass up to his bed.  She usually left him to the floor, but at times, if he was especially pitiful in his drunk ramblings, she’d at the very least leave a cushion beneath his head.

This night, however, was odd in it’s entirety, for Erend didn’t have the ale out, his friends were nowhere to be found, and he was sitting almost calm-like on his couch, reading a _book_.  

Reading - the guy wasn’t exactly known for it.

“You’re reading a book?”  She said, and surely, he was joking, or pulling a fast one on her.  But he looked up, shocked to see her there though he was the one to invite her.  

She just cocked her head, one eyebrow quirking up and he broke into a large, bright grin, one that made her insides flop a little.  Though she would vehemently deny the man had any effect on her at all.

“Not just any book - this is a book on the _Nora_.”  He replied, far too excited for it’s subject.

“What’s so special about that?”  Aloy asked, sitting next to Erend and slinging an arm over the back of the couch, staring at the well flipped pages of the journal.

“Oh, it’s written by a Carja traveller, who hasn’t been to the Sacred Lands.  Mostly because,” he paused to mime an arrow flying up and down, “that’d happen right on his head.”  Erend finished with, looking at her with a cocky, open mouthed grin.

Aloy unwillingly smiled at his antics, leaning over into his space to view the words.  They were messy, handwritten, and with pictures that Aloy knew from a very personal point, were greatly over exaggerated.  Nora women in no way looked as such, except for the odd few.

“What’s this say?”  She asked, pointing to one particularly smushed bit of text and Erend hadn’t replied, too busy staring at the unruly mop of red hair that was all of a sudden up in his space, and Aloy hadn’t waited for his reply, pressing a light finger to her focus.

“Savage beasts…”  She murmured, chuckling because it wasn’t far from the truth in her mind, what with the Matriarchs sending _infants_ off to die.  “Cannibalism?  Really?”  She looked over at him, and realized with only a slight widen of the eyes that he was inches from her.  He looked tense, hands fidgeting and she hadn’t noticed when she so casually drifted into his space.  

With a clearing of her throat she leaned back into her own seat, and Erend visibly relaxed at that.  She wasn’t so terrifying to be close to, as all the rumours went on about her, was she?

Deciding against the urge to ask about the unnerved glint in his eyes, she continued on with what she skimmed off the book from her focus.  “That’s not how the proving works at all.  You should know that.”  She said, tone jilted, and Erend pretended not to notice.  She crossed her legs, and Erend looked back to his book.

“Yeah, but, doesn’t make it any less fun.”  He said, thumb rubbing over a picture of one particularly ferocious looking Nora huntswoman.  She was leaping, bow drawn back in an exaggerated curve and arrows flying by the threes.  

She found the movement of his large, calloused thumb curious, but didn’t ask on it.

“Guess where I found the book?”  He asked, out of nowhere in the silence that fell like a thick blanket over them.  Aloy didn’t know why the air felt static in the first place.

“Hm?”  She hummed out, side glancing Erend and noted he was still staring hard at the almost familiar art of the Nora women on the pages.  She had long, wild hair, and from the scribbled, dried out colours, Aloy noticed it might have been in the red pigmentation at one point in time.

“I found Avad reading it,” he started with, looking over at her with a small, amused smile.

“Avad?”  She asked, incredulous, and Erend nodded with a laugh.

“Guess he was trying to,” he paused, looked up at the ceiling and slung his own arms behind the back of the couch, and the brushing of his hand by her shoulder singed, but she didn’t move away, “ _study_ up on your customs before meeting you.”  He laughed, head shaking back and forth and Aloy imagined he was remembering stumbling upon the young Sun King when he was in the middle of reading this incredibly inaccurate book.

She looked at the well worn pages, and thought of something.  “Did you read this before coming to the Sacred Lands, as well?”  Aloy asked, because the imagery of finding Erend _reading_ made her imagine the Erend before Ersa’s death, before he manned up, reading this book in preparation to come and be the first outsiders to meet with the Nora on their holy grounds.  It made her chuckle.

“I-” he stopped, an odd blush waving over his cheeks, and it was almost cute on his scruffy face.

“You?”  She pressed, one hand planted firmly between them as she leaned closer, trying to catch his eyes.

“Might’ve peeked.  Yeah.”  He stumbled to a finish, scratching at the back of his neck and leaning farther away.  To this she frowned, but didn’t comment.  Maybe she was so terribly frightening.  Not that she didn’t enjoy the rumours of her ferocity, but she had hoped Erend of all people would recognize she wasn’t a threat.

“Did you believe any of it?”  She asked with a small grin, and Erend sighed and looked to his feet in defeat.

“Yeah, but after seeing you - all, well, you know,” he said, gesturing to her over all form and she _still_ really didn’t know, but he pushed on, “I figured Nora women weren’t quite what this guy here,” pointing to the books page still open on the almost familiar depiction of an exaggerated Nora huntswoman, “made them out to be.”

“Ah.”  She said, chuckling, leaning back to her own space and she disliked how he once again, at her leanance away, relaxed.  She fit her tongue in cheek, and Erend gave her an odd look.  It made her shift where she sat.

“Keep reading, I want to hear what else he got wrong.”  She eventually said, under the look Erend was passing her.  Erend looked to the book with confused eyes, and back to her.  She shrugged.  “I don’t have the best reading skills, the focus does all the work for me, most the time.”  She admitted, looking away for a moment and Erend gave her a look crossed between almost pity and disbelief.

He took a moment to answer, and it made her want to take back the small request, before Erend opened his mouth.  “Right then.”  He went with, and Aloy relaxed.

He began reading aloud, this time, and his voice - a low, calm rumble, made her want to hum in delight.  She leaned back against the couch, occasionally commenting about what was wrong, really wrong, and just plain terribly wrong.  Erend would laugh some at her dry humour, and each time she drove a light chuckle from him, she’d preen with pride.

Soon an hour almost passed, and they passed the first three chapters of complete inaccuracy, Aloy felt a sudden odd urge to lay across the couch.  Erend was absorbed so in a rather messy sentence, struggling on some of the more creative, larger words, he didn’t notice the warm weight across his lap until Aloy had seated her head and shoulders rather snug on the seat of his thighs.

She had her hands crossed and over her midsection, eyes closed and she didn’t bat an eye when he jumped under her.  This was far more comfortable, and he only stuttered once before resuming the book, albeit this time in a more strangled, tight tone.  She felt like sighing at his stiff movements, and peeked an eye open up at him.

She couldn’t quite place the urge to be close to Erend as he read aloud some of the most absurd ideas of her people-not-people, but Erend always had such an odd effect on her.  Shortness of breath, a twinge in her heart when he would leave to the Claims for clan duties, and overall itch under her skin.  She was no fool to deny any of this, but she was a fool enough to ignore the obvious notions of what it lead towards.

But what Aloy _was_ good at, was playing the knows-no-better card.  Erend fell for that one the most.

Looking up at him, she noticed the prominent flush of his cheeks, and the clenching of his fingers around the leather clasps of the book.  She frowned at that.

“Are you frightened of me?”  She asked, and Erend blinked wide and stopped mid sentence about how Nora men are nothing more than second class citizens and other outlandish notions.

“No - why,” he licked his lips, and Aloy followed the movement predatory quick, “why would you think that?”

“You flinch whenever I get close to you,” she said, and then, following the curve of his brow in it’s intricate dance as he thought over her words, “and relax when I exit your space.”

Erend took another moment to roll over her words, before slumping his face into the pages of the book.  “Aloy, that is so far from the problem.”  He said, voice muffled and Aloy huffed, sitting up but still very much in his space.  When he pulled the book away he muffled a squeak, the sight of her evergreen eyes glaring into his causing his heart to work double time.

“You squeaked.”  Aloy said, as if it proved her point, and to her, it did.

“I don’t squeak.”  Erend said, defensive, and hands floating far from his body as to avoid any brushes across her own  Her hands were now on either side of him, her body leaning close into his space and Aloy ignored to no avail how good it felt to be this close to him.  

“You don’t?”

“Yeah, that was just - uhm, an Oseram’s, uh,” he couldn’t find a proper word to use for his bullshit, and Aloy smirked in triumph.  Although the idea of Erend being frightened of her was a good bit disheartening.

She prepared to lean back, give the man peace of mind, but was halted by the sudden grip on her upper arm, skin burning under the warm, large hold of his hand.  She looked down at it, heart skipping a beat and Erend looked ready to punch himself in the face.

“It’s - you know, you’re just, _look_ at you.”  Erend said, waving his hand about, again, to gesture to her body, again, and Aloy bit the inside of her cheek.

“I’m just what?”  She asked, and she felt a sudden vicious need to know just what Erend thought of her form.

Erend bit his lip, harsh tug of teeth, before he opened his mouth to a spill of words, “You’re a very pretty girl, and I’m just a lazy loafabout who’s fucked up too many times to count, and you’re saving the world and you tame machines for fucks sakes and how the hell am I supposed to -”  

Erend didn’t quite get to finish his sentence, because his words made Aloy realize a lot of new things - as, for instance, why Erend always seemed to be louder when she was around, or why he his thumb had been stroking the picture of that Nora womens exaggerated image, with the red hair and eyes that spoke a fighting spirit.

Aloy had shushed him with a chaste kiss, her first, and Erend looked quite ready to explode, much like a Glinthawk when Aloy managed to hit the sacks on their chests.  She pictured that it would be quite the sight.

His chapped lips were warm beneath hers, and wholly pleasant, setting a zing through her body that made her want to press harder, if not for Erend’s shaking hands clasped about her shoulders.  The book fell forgotten to the floor, and Erend pulled back with eyes wide like an amazed child.

“Did you just -”

“Yes?”  Aloy replied, uncertainty hitting her but Erend’s hold on her shoulders kept her grounded, at best.  She was new to this, and felt inexperienced and young and stupid, but going by Erend’s breathless face, she had done something correct.

“Okay.  Okay, you did.”  Erend muttered softly, licking his lips again, and Aloy watched the movement, a sudden heat flaring in her at the sight.

“Was it okay?”  She asked, her head leaning to the side and hair spilling over her shoulders, hands fidgeting where they were now placed on his warm thighs.

“By the metal itself, yes.”  He breathed out, one hand tentively reaching up to brush one particularly unruly curl of hair behind her ear and he grew more confident when she just watched the movement, leaning into it just the slightest and he laughed breathlessly.

“Are you frightened of me now?”  Aloy asked, voice a whisper, leaning closer, moving mostly off instinct when she fit one of her strong thighs over and next to his.

“N-no.”  He stuttered out, and Aloy decided she liked the uncertain, flushed look on his face, as she settled more firmly on his lap.  She also decided quite heartedly she very much _liked_ being on his lap, more so when his hands came to tentatively rest on her hips.

“Good.”  Aloy breathed out, and leaned down to connect their lips again, this time more pressure, more _need_ behind the action, and Aloy then understood why everyone else seemed so interested in this action.

Erend returned the kiss this time, hands rubbing cautious circles into the crest of her hipbones, over the thick leather of her clothes, and she made a pleased hum at the warmth that pooled in her gut at the action.

“Good.”  Erend muttered in turn, and Aloy shook her head and chuckled, pressing another heated kiss to his open mouth.

Definitely good.  



End file.
